Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Our three babies spent a total of 10 or 11 days in the NICU. They spent a couple extra days  due to lack of space in the Intermediate care unit. It was open to parents almost all the time. We spent some nights till 2 am going from baby to baby. We were able to bring the grandparents in for short visits. We had close to 50 different nurses for our babies. We are very thankful that our babies didn't need any special treatment, just standard steps for their age, such as iv feeding, feeding tubes, vitamins added to mothers milk, and billy lights. 

In the first two weeks we could see a marked difference in their maturity. At first they could kick their legs out but didn't know how to bring them back. Several standard baby things would stress them as premies. Rocking, rubbing their skin, or being sprawled out all stressed them. They liked being wrapped up tight and held still. Also they liked kangaroo care, which is being put inside our shirts so they can get our body heat and hear our heart beat just like being in the womb.

Alexander Francis was born at 9:29 am 3 lbs 9 oz 15 3/4 inches. He has always been the most active. From the first ultrasound he has always kicked the most. This worked against him in the NICU where his movements would pull out the pressurized air support and require more oxygen. Alex needed to be inhabited for 18 hours in his second day of life. After that he went back to pressurized air and then to just unpressurized air flow. Alex had a total of 5 days of some form of air support till he was breathing room air. Once he had everything out of his nose he was much calmer, started to feed and quickly progress to eating his full amount in 2 days instead of the normal 5. Alex spent a total of 11 days in the NICU

Ryan Philip was born at 9:31 3 lbs 11.5 oz, 17 inches. When being born he decided to pull Nicole's placenta along with him. So one doctor was holding Ryan while the other pulled out Nicole. Under natural child birth this would have resulted in serious complications in the delivery. Ryan required 1 day of pressurized air. Ryan spent a total of 10 days in the NICU.

Nicole Elaine was born at 9:32 2lbs 14.5 oz 15 1/2 inches. Nicole was born about 10 seconds after Ryan. Nicole had pressurized air for a day as a precaution to hold her lungs open. Despite being the smallest she was the first off pressurized air. Nicole spent a total of 11 days in the NICU.